The East Africa Cup
Tournaments and other youth events such as the East Africa Cup in Tanzania are successful means in youth development provided that certain factors come into play.
The topic of the February 2006 session of the Discussion Forum on Sport for Development and Peace meeting held at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, was centered around the on the annual youth football tournament that is held between May and July in Moshi (Kilimanjaro), Tanzania.
The main objective of the week long tournament is to empower youths in various aspects of human endeavor through the use of football.
- The outcry and zeal of many East African teams wanting to participate in international engagements can only be quenched by having locally organized international events. The East Africa Cup is cost effective, hence allowing many youths to share the international experience, taking advantage of the geographical proximity of the venue to their respective home areas, says NSSS Master student and member of the EduSport Foundation in Zambia, Kabanda Mwansa.
Not just football
During the tournament different activities are held along side the football tournament, even by the way games such as frisbee and volleyball are present at the tournament. Girls’ teams compete on their own while their male counterparts also have their own competition in varying categories.
In the 2005 tournament 16 girls’ teams and 24 boys’ teams participated. The tournament attracts media attention in the three East African countries and beyond. Workshops on different topics are held in the period of the tournament while cultural evenings in form of dance and drama are part and parcel of the programme.
A good number of volunteers are engaged and local agencies also come on board promoting local ownership and responsibility.
Lessons learned
Mwansa belives that when carefully used, sport can deliver HIV/AIDS related interventions at all levels where it is needed. On the other hand if not carefully used, sport can provide a breeding ground for youth and juvenile delinquency that may lead to spoilt societies, he says.
According to Mwansa, tournaments and other youth events like these are successful when:
- the organizers are willing to learn and improve on the past experiences;
- the organizers are willing to partner with non-sports organizations relating to matters of youth development especially when the event addresses broader concerns such as the HIV/AIDS issues;
- there is a deliberate will to use local wisdom that is even culturally appropriate;
- long term interventions in HIV/AIDS work are recognized as part of building community awareness and sustaining individual behavior change.
Future recommendations
invitation of teams should be extended to other organizations in the region and beyond, especially the organizations that have similar objectives in character building for the youth.
- Restricting the tournament to East African countries and Norway may have good intentions, but in the long run it may loose its meaning. It was also suggested that since East Africa is on the world market of tourism, the tournament should directly be linked to tourism so as to attract teams from different parts of the world, Mwansa says.